Category: Chain restaurants

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Today’s diners want to eat fast, but that doesn’t mean they want to eat fast food. That’s what the owners of Rustic Bakery told me last week, as we chatted about last year’s expansion of their Novato and Larkspur bake stores and counter service cafés, plus the runaway popularity of their new location at Marin […] More »

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All hail The Habit Burger Grill, which opens today in the Napa Crossing shopping center on Trancas St. between California Boulevard and California Way. Yep, it’s that same joint with some 50 locations across the universe. Well, California and Arizona, at least. In the Bay Area, Habit has homes in Walnut Creek, Pleasanton and San […] More »

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Marin residents got all excited when Pizza Orgasmica came to San Rafael in January, flustered by the shop’s garish neon yellow exterior, which spurred vandalism and finally in late July, a calmer, beige paint job. But a live, giant, bright green dancing pickle wearing red high-top sneakers and a chef’s toque and grappling customers on […] More »

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Landing on the exact opposite side of the spectrum from Gavin Newsom’s San Francisco soda ban idea is a new machine that has just been installed at two Wingstop locations in Oakland and Emeryville. It’s called the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine, has a touch-screen dispenser, is out to replace all those familiar (but perfectly functional) eight-flavor […] More »

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Willie Brown may shout the praises of the $5 Subway sandwich, but I can one up him with Benihana. If you watch Mad Men then you saw this Japanese restaurant in the first episode of the season; when it opened in 1964 it was the trendy place to dine in New York. A second location […] More »

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I’m beginning to plan my second trip to Vietnam this fall. When I went there 10 years ago, I was dumbstruck by the exotic terrain, the gentle nature of the people and the wonderful, fresh street food, particularly in Hanoi. Within a day it became immediately apparent why we could never win the war there. It’s […] More »

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I’m beginning to plan my second trip to Vietnam this fall. When I went there 10 years ago, I was dumbstruck by the exotic terrain, the gentle nature of the people and the wonderful, fresh street food, particularly in Hanoi. Within a day it became immediately apparent why we could never win the war there. It’s […] More »

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McDonald’s Although restaurants like McDonald’s have been doing well with special low-cost promotions, the going is tougher for others. It feels like we can’t get away from the doom and gloom, even at holiday time. We know what’s happening to our 401(k) and the economy in general. In the last few weeks I’ve had a […] More »

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Katy Raddatz/Chronicle For Fish & Farm, retooling the menu with lower prices has brought in more diners. The news is gloom when it comes to the economy. Yet like everything else, with every setback comes opportunity. If you’re McDonald’s, for example, you’re feeling pretty good now. Figures released last week showed that the Golden Arches […] More »

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PR Newswire McDonald’s developed a special “Kung Fu Panda” Happy Meal. It’s Friday, so if we can’t talk pizza, let’s think movies. I was paging through the last issue of Nation’s Restaurant News and was fascinated by an article on how chain restaurants tie into blockbuster movies; these days just about every mainstream movie has […] More »

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Liz Hafalia/Chronicle 2007 Bacon cheeseburgers, like this one offered by Red Onion in Pinole, are growing in popularity. Two weeks ago, I reported a study by NPD Group revealing that Americans were eating fewer french fries. Well, now this group, in conjunction with Datassential, reports that hamburger sells are booming. According to an article in […] More »

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At McDonald’s, some customers are opting for Apple Dippers rather than fries with Happy Meals. America is eating fewer french fries, according to a recently released data from the consumer market research firm NPD Group. It doesn’t hold true in my universe; I order them whenever I can; if they’re cooked in duck fat, as […] More »

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<img alt="Washington state crab await their fate at Scoma's, San Francisco’s top-grossing independent restaurant.” src=”http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/mbauer/2008/04/14/CRAB350x233.JPG” width=”350″ height=”233″ border=”0″ /> Lance Iverson/Chronicle 2007 Washington state crab await their fate at Scoma’s, San Francisco’s top-grossing independent restaurant. Restaurants and Institutions just released its 25th annual survey of the top 100 highest-grossing restaurants in the United States om […] More »

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Red Lobster Chef Michael LaDuke of Red Lobster has a Chef’s Blog on the restaurant chain’s website I know many people say blogging went mainstream when people like me got into it; but there’s no denying that it is now truly ubiquitous: I received a release last week announcing that the chefs of the Red […] More »

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Katy Raddatz/Chronicle Ducca in the Westin is one of a number of high-profile hotel restaurants lately. I recently completed my review visits of Ducca, a new restaurant in the Westin Hotel (formerly the Argent). It reminded me of a new trend gathering steam in the Bay Area and across the United States: Mainstream hotels are […] More »